Kriti Mehrotra
When New York turned Connecticut resident Jennifer Dulos went missing on May 24, 2019, after dropping her five kids at school, it left not just these states but also the entire nation baffled to its core. That’s because, as carefully chronicled in NBC’s ‘Dateline: A Life Interrupted,’ the proud single mother was doing nothing but focusing on building a good life for her family on the fateful day. It thus took a while for officials to uncover all answers, yet it has since come to light that her estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, and his then-partner, Michelle Troconis, were behind this ordeal.
Who is Michelle Troconis?
Although Jennifer and Fotis were still married when the latter came across Michelle for the first time during one of his trips to Miami in 2016, their 12-year marriage had long run out of passion. In fact, according to reports, the couple was essentially leading separate lives in their massive Farmington, Connecticut, home, which is just part of why he didn’t hesitate to pursue a new spark. Her being a talented athlete as a dual citizen of the United States and Venezuela are actually what intrigued this waterskiing champion the most, soon resulting in them falling head over heels.
Fotis’ union with Jennifer hence of course caused significant issues, especially because he’d indicated to mid-40-year-old Michelle that they were already well on their way to getting a divorce. That’s why she’d uprooted her whole life and relocated to Connecticut alongside her daughter from a prior relationship — in other words, she was initially unaware of being “the other woman.” It was only in early 2017 when the truth came to light, driving the playwright, theatre troupe co-founder, plus mother of five to pack her bags, pick up her kids, and leave her husband for good.
Thus began the tumultuous divorce as well as custody proceedings, which drained Fotis of money, work, and shared physical custody once he defied court orders to have Michelle make contact with his children. Then came 50-year-old Jennifer’s disappearance on May 24, 2019, shortly following which evidence of blood was found in her garage, making officials suspect not just foul play but homicide. The fact they then recovered surveillance footage depicting Fotis dropping off heavy black bags in various trash cans didn’t help him either, and it looked like his girlfriend was with him.
It turns out these black bags contained blood-stained zip ties, two ponchos covered in “copious amounts of blood,” and positive DNA belonging to both Jennifer plus her estranged husband. Fotis and Michelle were then arrested for tampering with evidence as well as hindering prosecution, that is, until their lack of cooperation in finding the former’s body by January 2020 led law enforcement to add to/upgrade their charges. While the once waterskiing champion was additionally indicted for murder, his partner faced conspiracy to commit murder — little did anyone know he’d take his life a week later.
Michelle Troconis is Behind Bars
Though the initial inquiries into Jennifer’s disappearance had revealed a lot, further investigation uncovered that even Michelle’s DNA was present in those aforementioned black trash bags. Moreover, one of her many arrest warrants detailed she’d given different answers in three separate police interviews when asked whether Fotis was at home on the day his ex was slain. She hence stood trial in early 2024, during which a former employee of her late boyfriend named Pawel Gumienny came forward to testify that this accused often used to make use of aggressive language or slurs when talking about Jennifer.
“[Michelle] said, ‘That b**** should be buried right next to the dog,'” Pawel stated before revealing this was in reference to the time Jennifer refused to allow her children to visit their terminally ill family dog at their father’s home. He then added that a few days after the latter had disappeared in 2019, he’d heard the former express, “I’m gonna kill that f*****g b**** when she turns up.” Therefore, on March 1, 2024, following eight weeks of trial and 14 hours of deliberations over three days, Michelle was found guilty of murder conspiracy, hindering prosecution, plus four counts related to evidence tampering.
However, that’s not all; Michelle will actually return to court on July 10, where she’ll face the additional accusation of contempt for displaying a confidential report on her laptop during the trial. Until that point, upon having been sentenced to 20 years in prison, with execution suspended after 14 ½ years, as well as five years of probation, she remains behind bars. According to the Department of Corrections Records, the 49-year-old is incarcerated at the mixed-security York Correctional Institution in East Lyme, Connecticut, where he’s expected to remain until the maximum of August 28, 2038.
